


Buzzfeed Unsolved - The Confusing Tale Of The Prince And His Court

by Izzyfandoms, MagicQuill42



Series: Blood Guts and Gore [5]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Crossover, Deceit Sanders Has a Different Name, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:07:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23598835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzyfandoms/pseuds/Izzyfandoms, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicQuill42/pseuds/MagicQuill42
Summary: “This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we’re covering The Royal Court, a Floridan serial killer group, and allegedly the best in the business.”“This one’s a doozy,” Shane said, leaning back in his chair. “Like… when it comes to serial killers, we- it’s not often that we know who did it.”“Do we?” Ryan asked, giving the camera a look. “After all, that’s the thing with this case. We still don’t completely know what happened behind the scenes.”“Well,” Shane said. “Yeah, but do we ever?”“No,” Ryan agreed with a laugh. “No, I guess that is the whole show.”“It is.”“And with that established, let’s get into it."(The name Dorian is used for Deceit)
Series: Blood Guts and Gore [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1215180
Comments: 12
Kudos: 121





	Buzzfeed Unsolved - The Confusing Tale Of The Prince And His Court

**Author's Note:**

> This was written by Quill around the same time as the prologue of ADYOB, almost two years ago (though this has been edited so the details are more accurate). It's just a fun little oneshot to fill the gap between SHG and HOG, hope you enjoy!

“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we’re covering The Royal Court, a Floridan serial killer group, and allegedly the best in the business.” 

“This one’s a doozy,” Shane said, leaning back in his chair. “Like… when it comes to serial killers, we- it’s not often that we know who did it.” 

“Do we?” Ryan asked, giving the camera a look. “After all, that’s the thing with this case. We still don’t completely know what happened behind the scenes.” 

“Well,” Shane said. “Yeah, but do we ever?” 

“No,” Ryan agreed with a laugh. “No, I guess that is the whole show.” 

“It is.” 

“And with that established, let’s get into it. 

“On March third, 2006, the body of Max Carlyle was found in his office building. It was horribly decimated, with a crown cut into the forehead. But the cause of death seemed to be the multiple stab wounds throughout the body.” 

“That’s overkill.” Shane interrupted. “I just- to me, that seems like overkill. 

“How so?” Ryan asked. 

“I- you- the guy rips him apart and then stabs him?” Shane let out a low whistle. “That’s just too much.” 

“Well, he was- he was ripped apart after he was stabbed,” Ryan corrected. 

“After?” 

“After.” 

“Why?” 

“Well, there’s a couple theories, but at the time nobody knew.” 

“Huh. Weird.” 

“Yeah. 

“After the initial discovery, it appeared that all the workers in Carlyle’s building had also been killed, seemingly in a direct route to Carlyle himself. An officer from the scene went on record saying, ‘It’s almost as if the bloke just killed everyone in his way, not caring if it was a man or a woman, guilty or innocent.’ Over the next few years, the body count only grew, with the crown eventually being joined by a signature that stated they were killed by someone calling themselves ‘The Prince.’ Although the police in charge investigated this lead, they turned up with nothing, as no one with a Prince surname had anything else connecting them to the case. 

“In fact, apart from the sign-off and the manner in which they were killed, the only thing connecting most of the victims is that they were later revealed to be corrupt people, either in a position of power, or with a large sum of money.” 

“Oh, okay,” Shane said. “So, this is like a vigilante justice thing, then.” 

“Uh, it’s thought to be so, yeah.” said Ryan. 

“Hmm. Gotta say, I like the uh- the signature detail. The guy has flair.” 

“That he does.” 

“If you’re gonna kill people do it with flair.” Shane said. 

Ryan wheezed. “Yeah that’s- uh. That’s a good motto. A better one- a better one is: don’t kill at all.” 

“Yeah, but if you are going to kill people, if you’ve already made up your mind to do it, at least do it with a bit of style.” 

“Well… this guy had that in spades, that’s for sure.” 

“I just- is it so much to ask that serial killers do it with style?” Shane asked, laughing a little. “It’s always just ‘oh, I'm gonna kill women and black people because I hate them, and I can get away with it!’ Like, why can’t a serial killer kill the bad guys for once? And why can’t he do it, you know, in a cool way?” 

“I guess that’s true. If you’re gonna become a murderer, you’ll be a lot more popular if you kill bad people. 

“Around ten years after the first murder, a body killed in the same manner showed up. By this time, it was becoming startlingly commonplace, however this murder was significant because it was the first that bore a different signature, this one for The Knight.” 

“Holy crap!” Shane exclaimed. 

“Plot twist.” 

“So, he wasn’t working alone, then?” 

“Nope, at least not from that point on.” Ryan said. 

“Wow.” 

“The Prince and the Knight, for all their fear mongering, were only seen a few times. Witnesses reported that they wore costumes befitting their names: in doublets, red and black sashes, and quote ‘Princely attire’ unquote. One witness, Moriah Dane, even went on record as saying quote ‘They looked really nice, almost handmade. I know better now, but, at the time, I thought they were reenactors.’ unquote.” 

“Well, that’s… conspicuous,” Shane said. “How did no one stop them? You see a guy in a full prince suit, with a serial killer called the prince running around and you just let him go?” 

“Well, this- she did say she thought they were reenactors,” Ryan defended. “Like at a renaissance festival, she thought they were being paid to wear those.” 

“Still!” 

“You’re telling me, that you- if you were in this situation- you would just bowl a guy down because he’s wearing a funny costume?” 

“If he was in a prince costume, yeah.” 

“What if he was a legitimate actor and you just injured him for no reason?” 

“I would… politely apologize and hope he would understand.” 

“Unbelievable. 

“A few years after gaining this supposed apprentice, the Prince and the Knight appeared to go through a dry spell. With no bodies at all matching the description of their previous kills. Just before this time, the room containing all evidence on the case mysteriously caught fire, causing the two investigators on assigned to it to be fired. Then, suddenly, the Prince and the Knight were joined by another member, this one calling themself the Duke.” 

“Another one?” Shane exclaimed. 

“Yup,” Ryan said. “And they kept gaining ‘em, too. Like, a whole Royal Court.” 

“Oh! That’s why they’re called that.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay. And they were still considered serial killers, not a gang?” 

“Yeah, I don’t know why that is, but on paper they were just considered a bunch of serial killers working together. That’s how the media referred to them>” 

“Huh. Alright.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Can you imagine if every serial killer had this amount of teamwork? Like to work together like this?” 

“There’d be no one lef,.” said Ryan. “It would all be serial killers.” 

“Well that’s… that’s one way of looking at it-” 

“It’s the only way. They’d- they would wipe out every non-serial killer until it was only serial killers left.” 

“I don’t really think there’s enough of them to do that.” 

“It’s reality.” 

“Okay.” 

“The small group was slowly joined by others. The King, the Overlord, the Earl, the Viscount, and the Baron. They were later named The Royal Court. Although, despite their growing numbers, the two with the highest kill rate remained the Prince and the Knight, and of those two, the Prince killed more. The next major event in this case was when the police found eight people, dressed in masks and costumes, the only ones alive in a building full of dead people.” 

“Wait, so-” 

Ryan started laughing, already knowing what’s coming. 

“So,” Shane laughed. “All of that, all those bodies, and they just… get caught?” 

“Yeah.” Ryan wheezed. “What’s really interesting is, those specific cops weren’t even assigned to the case at the time, they were heading for a robbery across the city when they got the call to go to _this_ robbery, which people were getting killed at.” 

“They just found them?” Shane exclaimed. “Goodness, what a career break!” 

“Yeah. Can you imagine that? Just- you’re a cop heading to an armed robbery and instead, you catch an infamous group of serial killers.” 

“That would be something. I’m sure it made their day.” 

“Yeah. 

“Once arrested, it seemed the Royal Court was, in fact, a family consisting of four polyamorous men and their four children. The four parents, Logan, Virgil, Patton and famous author Roman Sanders, were theorized at the time to have coerced their children into the murders. For that reason, the adults were incarcerated, but the children – Thomas, Remy, Emile, and Dorian – were allowed to go free, put placed under temporary house arrest, under police surveillance.” 

“That’s… that’s just dumb,” Shane said. 

“Well, they did have good reason for it.” 

“I don’t believe that. There’s never a good- they were suspects! In a crime case! You don’t just let those guys walk away, you take them in for a trial or something!” 

“One of ‘em was thirteen!” Ryan exclaimed. “You think a thirteen-year-old is gonna do well in prison?” 

“They do have… what’s it called. I don’t remember the name but it’s like baby prison.” 

“Baby prison?” Ryan deadpanned. 

“Yeah, just- Juvie! It’s called juvie. Just lock em up in juvie and they’ll be fine.” 

“They- okay. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but mostly because of what I’m about to say, you may be.” 

“I’m alright with that. I think I have the high ground here, morally speaking.” 

“Okay. 

“Soon after this, Roman Sanders confessed. Not only to the murders as the Prince, but also to convincing his family to join him in the killings. Quote ‘I stopped wanting to hide it from them. It felt like I was one person at home and another on the streets. But I didn’t feel that they would accept me for who I was if I didn’t make them just like me.’ End quote.” 

“Okay.” said Shane. “So, first off, there’s a very good way to solve this problem. Just stop killing people!” 

Ryan laughed. 

“Just stop it!” Shane continued. “You don’t need to do that, and evidently you don’t _want_ to do that, so why are you doing it? Just stop!” 

Ryan laughed harder. “Well, he was- he was taking out a bunch of corrupt people.” 

“Eh, so what? We’ve lived through a billion of ‘em. But a bunch of people didn’t live through this guy.” 

“That’s true,” Ryan wheezed. “That’s very true. 

“Roman’s confession alone was not enough to get his husbands free. However, there was a lot of evidence backing his claim, as well as one of his husbands, Logan, providing gathered evidence and making an official statement to the police backing his words. Quote ‘I like to think logically. At the end of the day that’s all we have left. That is why I will tell you how it really happened, whereas the others will simply base it on emotions. He manipulated us. Plain and simple.’ End quote. Despite apparent protests from Patton and Virgil Sanders, these claims were believed, though all four men were still given similar sentences.” 

“Wow. That’s… wow.” 

“I know, right? Pretty dark stuff.” 

“Yeah, I mean, like… we’ve dealt with darker things. Like violence towards women and… and violence IN women but this? This is…” Shane let out a low whistle. “This is something heavy. Manipulating seven people into killing with you? Manipulating kids?” 

“Yeah. It’s pretty ugly. 

“Later on, Roman and his husbands were being transported to a higher security facility, one that they never arrived to. They went underground shortly after, and have not been heard from since.” 

“Kids did it,” Shane said with an air of finality. “I don’t know how, but the kids did it.” 

“Well, that’s the thing, they were still under house arrest with a family member, and the police have gone on record as saying they were there the whole time!” 

“One of ‘em could have snuck away.” 

“All four of them were seen entering the house, there were plenty of eyewitnesses that saw them starting to go into the building at that time, as well as cameras. There’s no way it could have been them.” 

“Well, then how would you explain it?” 

“Well, I’m gonna get into that here in a second, if you’ll let me move on.” 

“Okay!” 

“Okay!” 

“Move on then!” 

“There are several people-” 

“Didn’t wanna debate this anyway.” 

“-There are several people who believe that the children aided in the escape. However, these have been discounted due to the fact that several witnesses place the children inside the house of the relative taking care of them – they were _in_ the safe house during the time of the escape that allowed their fathers to get free. 

“With these details out of the way, let’s get into the first theory. Many people believe that the children had many underground or black-market contacts due to the fact that Roman admitted to selling human body parts on the black market, which is the reason so many of his victims were found missing one or more limbs or internal organs. It is then believed that one of these contacts was reached and asked to help while the children were still in sight and had a good alibi. 

“This theory, however, has been publicly refuted by the eldest Sanders child, Thomas. Quote ‘We never saw the middlemen. And we certainly never saw what came after. We just did what we were told and went for dessert or dinner after. We tried not to think about it, but we did it, and then we went home and tried not to think some more.’ End quote.” 

“Bull,” Shane said. “I bet they did do that. I’ll bet they’ve got black market adopted family out the wazoo and it’s just a matter of who they asked.” 

“Well, I don’t know... because yes, on the one hand, why would you do that to your kid, but on the other, we’ve had cases where we’re fairly certain someone took their kid to a drug deal! Why would this be any different?” 

“Exactly what I’m saying! Especially if you took that kid to, you know, remove them.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Not exactly parent of the year for either one, but I would say teaching your child to kill is worse than teaching them how to manage the black market. Actually, the black market one is better! Not only is it learning marketing it’s learning marketing with a gun to your head!” 

Ryan laughed. “Yeah, educational stuff there.” 

“Educational,” Shane agreed. 

“The second theory is that the husbands of Roman Prince were lying, and were able orchestrate their escape as well as his. This has grown popular because two of the husbands, Logan and Virgil, were previously cops assigned to work on the Prince case and were the very officers who were fired after ‘accidentally’ starting the fire in which much of the evidence was lost. Shortly after the fire, the family mysteriously decided to move houses, moving across town, outside of that precinct's jurisdiction. 

“It is believed the two likely would have still had contacts and even friends on the force, many of whom could have been placed as guards or even as the driver of that transport vehicle, allowing them to escape. Even if this theory is not true, it would certainly explain how they dropped off the map shortly after.” 

“Okay, so what this is saying,” Shane said. “Is that… two of the husbands were former cops. And that they had burned all the evidence and left.” 

“Well, they were forced to leave but yeah.” 

“Interesting.” 

“Do you think you know who did it?” 

“I’m starting to get a picture of it, yeah. Maybe it was like a- a combo of the two. They were helped out by the cops they knew and someone from the black market. The BM.” 

“The BM?” Ryan wheezed. 

“Good ol’ BM.” 

“Yeah, I could see that. 

“The third theory is that aliens-” 

“NOPE!” Shane interrupted. “Nope! Stopping you there. We aren’t doing this. Wh- You were doing well, too! I was fully convinced until you brought up aliens, and now I don’t believe a word that has ever come out of your mouth.” 

“Nothing?” 

“Nothin’!” 

“Well what if I said, ‘Oh Shane you’re the greatest and most intelligent person in the world?’ Would you believe that?” 

“No. No, I know that’s not true.” 

“Whichever of these theories is true, the fact remains that no one knows who broke out Roman Sanders. And the idea that he manipulated his family remains indistinct.” 

“What?” Shane asked. 

“Yeah, some people have theorized that that part was a hoax and that the rest of the family did it of their own free will.” 

“Leave the poor kids alone! Haven’t they been through enough?” 

Ryan laughed. “Just earlier you were advocating for them going to prison!” 

“Yeah, but that was more an attack on police force stupidity than on the children themselves, I mean- they’re kids! They aren’t- children are not hard to manipulate. At that age, I almost definitely would have gone along with murder, especially if one or both of my parents wanted me to do it. And double especially if they got me- like- ice cream afterwards!” 

“You make a fair point, but I’m suddenly very scared to be in a room with you and your parents. 

“No matter who did it, or whether or not they were manipulated, the children remain out of jail and seem to be avoiding the public eye as much as they can. One of their children, Emile, went on to finish Roman’s book series, which had been left on a cliffhanger before his incarceration. Quote ‘I just felt like it needed closure. And I think it helped me find some too.’ end quote.” 

“That’s sweet.” 

“That is pretty sweet.” 

“Are his books still being sold?” Shane asked. 

“Uh, I think so, I mean they are on the bestseller list. And his son did write the last book.” 

“Hm. I wanna get some.” 

Ryan laughed. “Why?” 

“Just the notoriety of it. Reading a serial killer’s novel series. It just sounds interesting. And- hey! When I’m done, we can put it in the library by Holly Horsely!” 

Ryan laughed again. “Yeah we can do that. Hey, lemme know how coherent it is. 

“Will do.” 

“Whether the children were innocent or guilty of either crime, their fathers are now solidly underground, with no murders matching the profile surfacing. Meaning that for now, this case will remain… Unsolved.” 

What unsolved mystery would you like to see next? 


End file.
